Category Archives: Turkey

The people of Turkey were confronted on Sunday with a challenge as to whether or not their country would continue on its slide into authoritarian rule from President Erdogan and his Justice And Development Party. Erdogan has gone mad with power and has imprisoned dozens of members of the media for the crime of “insulting the President.” Gee, if the USA had such a law, Fox News would cease to exist. Anyway, there was an election and Erdogan’s party only obtained 41% of the vote. He was expecting to receive over sixty percent. The opposition People’s Democratic Party wound up with 25% and Kurdish voters gave their party 12%.

This election is a beginning for the people of Turkey to avoid the drift toward one party government in their land and the end of a free media. Hopefully, Erdogan learns that the people of Turkey want to continue being a model of Muslim democracy.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party arrived on the scene a dozen years ago and instituted several important changes in society. The Army was finally prevented from interfering in the political process and the economy began to take off. But, somehow, along the way, Erdogan increasingly has become a man obsessed with the belief there are powerful forces throughout the world who spend their days and nights seeking to destroy both him and his party. The other day he informed the world about his “enemies.” According to him the American “Armenian lobby, homosexuals, and those who believe in Alevism, all those represent the representatives of sedition. (The Alevi are those who believe in a version of the Muslim religion which preaches tolerance for all).

He is very angry at the Turkish Democratic People’s Party which he claims receives support from “foreign media outlets seeking to make Turkey their colony.” Oh, among those “foreign media sources are The New York Times, the BBC and CNN.

Give it a break, Recep, I do not believe the New York Times has sessions devoted to infiltrating Turkey!

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is always ready to defend his nation against any and all enemies. He has now uncovered a vicious new foe whose only task in life is attacking the brave people of Turkey. Not only does this enemy verbally attack and attack, but it is seeking to give aid and comfort to ISIS as well as all terrorist groups in the Middle East. President Erdogan is sick and tired of these constant written assaults on his nation by, none other than: THE NEW YORK TIMES! Thank God Erodgan was quick enough to uncover the latest plan of this arch enemy. President Erdogan informed the world that the New York Times “called the Ottoman ruler Sultan Abdulhamind an absolute monarch.” Not only has the New York Times been smearing the good name of the Turkish government today, but it now displays “hate that is directed to the Ottoman state.” Wow!

Erdogan is convinced the New York Times is “close to the Armenian lobby and now recently the state of Pennsylvania.” Now, you might wonder why this American newspaper is making alliances with the state of Pennsylvania, so let me clear things up. In this state which harbors anti-Turkish rebels lives one Islamic cleric named Fethullah Gulen, whose only task in life is smearing the name of Erdogan. I believe the cleric and the New York Times have been referring to the fact that Turkey has now placed in prison over two hundred media reporters who also hate the Ottoman empire!

Turkish President Recep Erdogan is very angry. He has increasingly gained more and more power in the Turkish government and has reached the point where any, and I mean, any, criticism of what he does is an act of terrorism against his rule. He did begin years ago as a reformer seeking to end power of the Turkish military to overthrow governments, and he successfully has gained control of those men. But, something happened along the road toward creating a Turkish democracy. Power, Power, is now the only issue in his mind. An editorial in The New York Times which was critical of his policies toward journalists has sent Erdogan on a furious denial campaign. The Times said: “Mr. Erdogan appears increasingly hostile to truth telling.” Gee, those are fighting words. Erdogan responded: “Who are you? Can you write such a thing against the United States administration?”

The answer is: YES. At this moment in time the nation of Turkey is holding dozens of journalists in jail for writing what the New York Times writes every day. In a democracy, the government does not decide what is “truth telling.

There are moments in life when one no longer is surprised at what SOME Muslims consider to be against the will of God. Throughout human history people throughout the world have played music and sung and drawn pictures. Name a human society without some form of music, name a human society without some form of singing? A young Turkish girl named Mutle Kaya just loved to sing and sing. A Turkish musical star, Sibel Can, heard her lovely voice and encouraged her to enter a contest. Alas, some members of her father’s tribe or clan or whatever, decided that she had become possessed by evil spirits and after sending death threats they physically attacked the girl.

During the year 2014 in Turkey, at least 294 women were murdered for some form of incorrect behavior. Just add singing to the list. I wonder if women in Turkey can sing in the shower?

Until the advent to power of President Recep Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, the Muslim nation of Turkey had created a balance between civil rights and religious rights. Although a majority of Muslims in Turkey are Sunni there are minor Muslim groups, Christians and Jews along with a sizable number of Muslims who are really not that religious. Once assuming power Erdogan did end the power of the Turkish military to interfere in the political process. However, he also moved to impose greater and greater religious ideas throughout the school system, the judiciary, and the world of politics. With each passing day there are steady changes in Turkey such as imposing required religious classes in school which are controlled by imams who support the government.

President Erdogan issued a challenge to his political enemies and argued the reason there was no ISIS or Boko Haram was due to his fight to expand religious education and practice in Turkey. One has nothing to do with the other. Turkish Muslims inhabit a society with a booming economy and have no interest in crazy imams urging a jihad or suicide bombers. Create a dynamic economy, have the semblance of democracy and few seek ISIS.

The modern nation of Turkey was formed from the dying Ottoman empire about 89 years ago when a soldier named Ataturk decided to lead a movement that would end a world of corruption and create a modern society based upon secular principles. I am not arguing that he wanted to create a democratic nation, but he did desire to end religious power. His followers are known as Kemalists and they reject the concept that religion should be the basis of modern life. Turkey for decades was based upon this principle of secularism. But, with the advent of the Justice and Development Party-AKP-Turkey has taken a new turn-and it is not for the better. Instead of military leaders the people of Turkey are now confronted with President Erdogan who believes a modern society requires strong religious values. I am not arguing that he suppresses those of different religions, but his government slowly, but surely is instituting more and more religious values–Muslim that is–into all aspects of society. In addition, he is slowly, but surely, eroding the democratic desires of a high percent of the population.

It has reached the point when Kemalists seeking to honor Ataturk are now accused of fostering violence. All they want to do is celebrate the work of a great Turkish leader. Something is very wrong in Turkey these days and religious freedom is being threatened. Erdogan is to Turkey what the Tea Party and our religious right are to America.

Vladimir Putin has an ability to irritate one and all in this world. He is so confident that whatever he utters will be accepted in the Soviet Union, –oops, I meant, Russia, that he once again angered another government. He was attending a meeting in the nation of Armenia to remember the murder of 1.5 million Armenians residing in Turkey during World War I, when he referred to this disaster as a GENOCIDE. Naturally, the government of Turkey is upset because they prefer living in a world that never happened. Either the Armenians in Turkey killed themselves or they were collaborating with the invading Russian army, but somehow in some way about 1.5 million wound up dead. Actually, the American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau described the atrocities frankly and clearly to his government. Armenians were murdered and it is time for Turkey to recognize this sloughier and initiate an educational program that teaches the truth.

What happened a hundred years is not the fault of modern Turks anymore than the Holocaust is the fault of modern Germans or the massacre of Indians in the West is the fault of modern Americans. As a society we must accept the truth of what happened in the past and work to ensure it does not happen today.

There should be another category in awarding Nobel prizes for peace that is focused on deterring if the nation of Turkey is for or against peace in the Middle East. President Recep Erdogan has been opposed from day one of the government of President Assad in Syria. He opposes this man because Assad is really not a very devout Muslim and he is close to the government of Iran. Of course, the government of Turkey engages in trade and good relations with Iran, but Erdogan does not want them having anything to do with the government of Syria. The Kurds who reside in parts of Turkey and Syria were fighting against ISIS which is another group that Erdogan does not like, but when the Kurds asked for some help, President Erdogan refused. In other words when a group that opposes the group he does not like, he refuses to help them.

The story goes on and on. At no point has Turkey engaged in military action against Syria. As Erdogan notes, ” I do not believe air strikes are sufficient to defeat Daesh(ISIS) in either Syria or Iraq. A rand offensive is needed align with air strikes so that operations can be successful.” Ok, he wants an offensive operation, but for some reason he does not wish Turkish troops to be involved, just the other guys. Of course if the other guys ask for his aid the answer is-NO. At this point Turkey has the best armed force of any Arab nation. But, he wants the other guys to fight.

The nation of Turkey each day slides ever closer to a semi autocratic society in which President Recep Erdogan rules the roost and no one dares to question his decisions. Ironically, Erdogan attained power because most Turks were tired of being ruled by generals. He crushed the power of these military leaders and offered a new road to democracy. But, once in power, like so many other tin pot rulers, the man of last year decided to consolidate his authority and impose a new version of democracy. In his early days, Erdogan was a moderate Muslim, but even this has changed and creeping Muslim religion is slowly working its way through education systems.

The Turkish government has announced it is investigating a set of horrible terrorist actions that include, planting trees, inflating balloons, and dancing the halay, a traditional folk dance, that were done without official permission. Some of the balloons were placed on poles near the literature faculty of a university. What next, clowns in the streets–without official permission??